CGC Inaugural Game: Lupin III [Arcade]

[PistolsAtDawn]

lupin-iii.png (461.63 KiB) Viewed 10532 times

Info: https://lupin.fandom.com/wiki/Lupin_III_(arcade_game)

Gameplay video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JN4YJNLQ9go

Our first MiSTer Community Games Club random selection from the games nominated for the Space Invaders core is Lupin the 3rd / Lupin III!

I have never played this game before, and I have also never seen the anime or manga upon which it is based, so this will truly be a new experience for me. The gameplay looks good - it even has cut scenes! Given the age of the game, I imagine that it will be difficult to get a great score. Thankfully we don't need coins or tokens to practice.

Play however you'd like! The point is to enjoy and have fun, but if you would like to compete on high scores, please let us all know how you played (as in, with a arcade control panel, gamepad, etc.). We're on the honor system here for reporting high scores, so if you used cheats, fess up!

Please share with us your thoughts, jokes, frustrations or anything else related to this game that you may discover (i.e. if you discover the game itself was featured or visible in some other form of entertainment like a movie or TV show).

[Alkadian]

Info: https://lupin.fandom.com/wiki/Lupin_III_(arcade_game)

Gameplay video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JN4YJNLQ9go

Our first MiSTer Community Games Club random selection from the games nominated for the Space Invaders core is Lupin the 3rd / Lupin III!

I have never played this game before, and I have also never seen the anime or manga upon which it is based, so this will truly be a new experience for me. The gameplay looks good - it even has cut scenes! Given the age of the game, I imagine that it will be difficult to get a great score. Thankfully we don't need coins or tokens to practice.

Play however you'd like! The point is to enjoy and have fun, but if you would like to compete on high scores, please let us all know how you played (as in, with a arcade control panel, gamepad, etc.). We're on the honor system here for reporting high scores, so if you used cheats, fess up!

Please share with us your thoughts, jokes, frustrations or anything else related to this game that you may discover (i.e. if you discover the game itself was featured or visible in some other form of entertainment like a movie or TV show).

Fantastic! I do love the manga and I own all the series in BR! However I have never played the game but it looks cool!

As soon as I get home I will give it a go!

Thanks a lot for this initiative!

[charmless]

Awesome! Never played the game before but I am excited to try it out.

[PistolsAtDawn]

Don't forget to check out the next random core and make your nominations now so next week we'll have another new game thread! We've got some good ones in there this time.

viewtopic.php?t=5106

[charmless]

Man, bank robbery is rough. I've played this game for a couple of hours now and I'm still trying to get a grip of how the guards are behaving and when that stupid dog will stop running. My High Score is around 4000 which is probably the same as the amount of words my kids had to ask me what they meant that I've shouted at my monitor.

It seems like the guy (Mr Lupin) runs faster with one money on him than with nothing on him, or am I imagining things?

Anyways, the game is alright, but I can't see myself going back to it too much. But it's a decent early arcade game.

How are you liking it?

[Alkadian]

Same sort of feeling here!

In my case I have been struggling with the controls as this is supposed to be played with a 4-way joystick and I have got 8-way joysticks on my cab. I know I can use the restrictor but I am too lazy

As soon as I get a decent score I will post it here

But as @charmless said I don't think I will be playing it a lot.

[charmless]

Same sort of feeling here!

In my case I have been struggling with the controls as this is supposed to be played with a 4-way joystick and I have got 8-way joysticks on my cab. I know I can use the restrictor but I am too lazy

As soon as I get a decent score I will post it here

But as @charmless said I don't think I will be playing it a lot.

Yes, playing it with an 8-way arcade stick is a nightmare. I had to switch to a gamepad with a really nice d-pad just to make it playable

[Malor]

I'm fortunate to be using a controller with a decent D-pad, but man, that game is annoying. It took me awhile to even figure out what I was supposed to be doing (taking the gold bags from the top down to the bottom), and you move a lot slower when carrying a bag. And you don't seem to be able to drop it to dodge, either.

I'm technically impressed with what they were able to do with the Space Invaders hardware, but from a gameplay perspective, I'm not feeling it.

[Hetzen]

Got mid way through the second stage so far. 4920 points.

You only have so many magic points that allow you to teleport randomly in the maze by pressing fire when you're cornered.

[charmless]

Got mid way through the second stage so far. 4920 points.

You only have so many magic points that allow you to teleport randomly in the maze by pressing fire when you're cornered.

That's pretty much where I usually run out of lives. My last score was 4700-something.

[PistolsAtDawn]

Lesson learned: the pause function appears to be good for a momentary break only. Anything longer than that and it will reset the game! I was on a decent run too...

So far this reminds me of a mix of Pac-Man (same year), Lock 'N' Chase (the year after), and Frogger (the year after). I'm not terribly good at it yet, but I'm going to try to get past the second round at least. I need more practice than I've been able to put in so far. Using a control pad as my arcade cabinet screen is out of commission until I can get it repaired, and it's not practical to hook up the arcade cab's control panel elsewhere.

Am I imagining things, or do you actually move more quickly with only a single bag of loot? It seems the walking sound effect is slightly more rapid when you only pick up a single bag.

[charmless]

Lesson learned: the pause function appears to be good for a momentary break only. Anything longer than that and it will reset the game! I was on a decent run too...

So far this reminds me of a mix of Pac-Man (same year), Lock 'N' Chase (the year after), and Frogger (the year after). I'm not terribly good at it yet, but I'm going to try to get past the second round at least. I need more practice than I've been able to put in so far. Using a control pad as my arcade cabinet screen is out of commission until I can get it repaired, and it's not practical to hook up the arcade cab's control panel elsewhere.

Am I imagining things, or do you actually move more quickly with only a single bag of loot? It seems the walking sound effect is slightly more rapid when you only pick up a single bag.

I think you actually move quicker. I guess he gets excited or something.

[PistolsAtDawn]

My final thoughts:

This game is much easier to play with an analog stick / joystick. D-pad controls are "sticky" and often screw up your ability to move smoothly. It doesn't take but one such accident to get caught by one of the guards or the dogs.

The trees in the game over jail scene look like butt plugs.

The attract mode for the game shows Lupin being able to move away from the guards faster than you actually can in the game! Talk about false advertising...

The random relocation move can screw you pretty regularly. It's not a reliable way to get out of trouble.

My current best score is only 4790. I'm not great at this game and can't be bothered to practice enough to get better.

This was a great first round, everyone! Remember that our rounds do not ever truly end, so feel free to keep trying to beat your own high scores or to join in on the fun if you didn't catch this post at the beginning.

Come join us for our second game: Grobda!!

[Hetzen]

Yeah I think one bag is faster than carrying two.

I played on a cheap Hori Fighting stick. It certainly helped on the 90 degree turns.

I kinda liked the games premise. An illusionist thief with a random warp mechanic. The cabinet artwork fills in the plot. After watching the youtube play through, it'd be good if the levels changed. But with ram restrictions on an original Space Invaders motherboard, it's what it is, and probably very creative coding.

Good bit of humour. A precursor to Bagman?

[Chakan4ever]

Hi all, I’m relatively new to Mister and have a few questions. When I load up the space invaders core I got from update_all it is just space invaders? I do have a separate core for Lupin III but it will only run in Tate on my BVM, I can’t flip the screen but I’m assuming this might work on an lcd?

First impressions are its a simple game I could enjoy for about 20 minutes. It would be better if it had catchy music. I like the artwork and colour scheme. Trying to cock my head sideways to match the screen and using the controls has been difficult also! Never the less it was a fun first round and I appreciate getting to play games I never knew existed.

[charmless]

Hi all, I’m relatively new to Mister and have a few questions. When I load up the space invaders core I got from update_all it is just space invaders? I do have a separate core for Lupin III but it will only run in Tate on my BVM, I can’t flip the screen but I’m assuming this might work on an lcd?

First impressions are its a simple game I could enjoy for about 20 minutes. It would be better if it had catchy music. I like the artwork and colour scheme. Trying to cock my head sideways to match the screen and using the controls has been difficult also! Never the less it was a fun first round and I appreciate getting to play games I never knew existed.

I think there are two versions of Lupin III, did you try them both? I understand that playing it in Tate when you can't flip your monitor is less than ideal

[PistolsAtDawn]

Hi all, I’m relatively new to Mister and have a few questions. When I load up the space invaders core I got from update_all it is just space invaders? I do have a separate core for Lupin III but it will only run in Tate on my BVM, I can’t flip the screen but I’m assuming this might work on an lcd?

First impressions are its a simple game I could enjoy for about 20 minutes. It would be better if it had catchy music. I like the artwork and colour scheme. Trying to cock my head sideways to match the screen and using the controls has been difficult also! Never the less it was a fun first round and I appreciate getting to play games I never knew existed.

This week's game (Grobda) was much more advanced (just four short years later), and I liked it for that reason. I enjoy playing a game I've never played before - and with a drive to do so beyond my first death - and this little club accomplishes that. That said, unfortunately it doesn't guarantee the random game selection is going to be an excellent game. Lupin III wasn't at the top of any of my lists, but I'm still glad we played it.

I'm not sure about the tate mode issue. Mine was played on an LCD screen. The Orientation option seems to work for that. Might be something specific about your analog monitor maybe. Wish I knew the answer. Having to play sideways doesn't make the game better, that's for sure.

Welcome, and I hope you stick around with us and play more!